DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Freddie Francis
Starring Janette Scott, Oliver Reed, Sheila Burrell, Alexander Davion, Liliane Brousse
Release date 26 July 2010

An inheritance, a long-dead brother (or is he?), a mentally ill sister and a mad aunt — can Simon Ashby survive the week?

In the early 1960s — following the success of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho — Hammer Films put aside their bloody, colourful remakes of the Universal monster movie catalogue to try their hand at a series of low-budget, black and white psychological chillers.

The first Hammer film directed by Freddie Francis, Paranoiac! brought Oliver Reed to the fore following his hirsute turn in Curse of the Werewolf. He’s the star (though not top-billed) and delivers a gloriously over-the-top performance that gradually builds to a hysterical climax. Ironically, virtually every appearance has Reed’s playboy Simon Ashby drinking or talking about drinking…

Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster’s script gives everyone something significant to do (even if it’s only to be a red herring). The mystery of whether the man claiming to be dead brother Tony is real or not quickly escalates into a Edgar Allen-Poe inspired gothic tale, complete with walled-up skeletons, impostors in disguise and mad knife men. Everything you could want from this kind of movie, really. Brian J. Robb

VERDICT: 8/10
Entertainingly over-the-top gothic chiller that showcases the young Oliver Reed.